User blog:Tesla Man/The Forest - Part I
Chapter I= Dwas hunched over the side of the wooden railing and spit out what vodka was in his stomach. The group cheered and Wonder dropped into his seat in a dizzy fashion and placed the empty shot glass onto the table in victory. “You got room for one more?” Noah popped the cap off the bottle. “Fuck you.” Wonder giggled and joined Dwas on the railing to throw up the vodka. Noah poured one for Wach and him and the two took their seats at the small table on the porch of the cabin to finish up the bottle. “Give it to me.” Dwas reached his arm backwards for the empty glass bottle of vodka, his other arm wrapped around his stomach as he coughed up the last drops. Noah handed it over and Dwas wrapped his fingers around the neck of the bottle and hurled it over the porch railing and into the forested valley below to freeze in the autumn temperatures. Dwas turned around and wiped his mouth with a smile and headed inside, closing the sliding glass door behind him. “Where’s he going?” Wach looked inside. “Probably to pass out.” Wonder peered down into the valley with the crisp wind blowing up the side of the mountain and into his face. “I’ve never seen someone chug that much vodka before in my fuckin’ life.” He turned around and took a seat next to Noah and Wach. “But you managed.” Noah finished off his shot glass and stared up at the stars and plastic lights strung around the cabin. “Cause I’m used to it.” Wonder crossed his arms on the table and placed his head in the nest. Wach laughed. “I’ve seen Wonder down twice that.” He referenced Wonder’s tendency to over drink at high-school parties. He flipped his phone out of his pocket and pushed the button at the bottom and lit up the screen, eyeing the percentage. “Shit gotta go charge.” Wach leapt from the white plastic chair and slid open the glass door, stepped inside, and pulled it back closed. The two sat in silence for a few seconds, Noah looking up at the stars and Wonder looking point blank with the tabletop. “Where’re you going for college again?” Noah mumbled. “UBC.” Wonder knocked his forehead against the table a few times to stop the dizziness caused by the vodka. “Oh yeah…” Noah trailed off. “British Columbia… You gonna play for the Thunderbirds?” Wonder sighed and stood up. “I’m gonna go to bed. Ask me in the morning.” He held his forehead in his hand and he wobbled over to the glass door and sloppily stepped into the house. Noah watched him and grunted as he disappeared into the cabin. “You didn’t closed the door asshole!” He leaned back in his chair to see where Wonder went. “I don’t care!” He heard Wonder call out from inside and then a door shut. Noah grabbed the glass door and began pulling as Wach jogged over to keep it open, his phone no longer in his possession. “Hold it.” Wach wrapped his fingers around the door and stepped out onto the porch. Noah slid it closed behind him and the two sat back down at the table in silence. After a while, the silence was broken by Noah. “Hey, is Wonder gonna be playing for the Thunderbirds in college? I forgot.” “Nah.” Wach’s eyes were closed and he was leaning back in his seat. “He wants to be a biologist or some shit.” “That’s too bad.” Noah zipped up his jacked and the wind blew in fast. “He was good.” “At hockey?” Wach laughed. “Nah.” The group was a part of the high school’s hockey team and while they weren’t the best players on the team, it didn’t matter because they never once won a game. Dwas’ parents rented out the cabin after they graduated for them to go up together before they all went their separate ways across Canada. “You goin’ to college Wach?” Noah tuned to him. “I’ve got a baby girl remember? I need to get a job first and then I’ll consider college.” Wach grunted. “Oh yeah, 16 and pregnant.” Noah chuckled and placed his foot up onto the chair next to him that wasn’t occupied. “You wanna be a writer, right?” Wach opened his eyes and looked at him. “Something like that.” Noah responded. “That’s too bad.” Wach closed his eyes again. “You were good.” “At hockey?” Noah closed his eyes as well. “Nah.” Wach stood up and grabbed the four shot glasses and marched over to the sliding glass door and stepped his foot inside. “I’m goin’ to bed. You wanna come in?” “Nah.” Noah opened his eyes and sat up in his chair. “Well its three o’clock in the morning, you might wanna start thinking about it.” Wach walked over to the table inside and set the glasses down. “Hey Wach?” Noah called, followed by Wach poking his head out the glass door. “Can you toss me my book?” “Which one?” He looked at the pile of three on the table next to the shot glasses. “Stephen King.” He leaned forward to see inside. “Should be at the bottom of the pile.” “Gotcha.” Wach tossed him the paperback book. “Not exactly my kinda nighttime reading material but whatever.” “Just go to bed.” Noah smiled and shook his head, opening the book to the dim electric lights outside the cabin. Wach chuckled and slid the door closed. Noah got lost in the pages as he turned each one, diving deeper and deeper into Salem’s Lot. King’s beautifully written words and stabbing suspense surrounded him and transported him from a cabin patio in the Canadian boreal forest and into Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. He flipped and flipped and flipped for minutes on end until he flipped once more and finished the book. He paused for a moment and felt the back cover, realizing the story was over. He lifted his watch on his wrist and checked the time: 3:40 am. “Holy Shit” He mumbled, glaring down at the book in awe and at how tired he was. He smiled a massive grin, “I read that thing fast.” He laughed. Noah had trouble reading since he was in middle school and resented books until he found horror which interested him to the point of no return. He just blazed through 439 pages in 2 hours and he couldn’t believe it. He dropped the book to the table in front of him and stood up, rubbing his face ready to fall asleep – or grab another book. He wrapped his fingers around the glass door and slid it open, an awful friction noise came from it and Wach stirred on the couch in the main room, half asleep. Noah tried a little harder to keep it quiet and then stepped into the cabin and pulled his shirt off for bed. He turned around and grabbed the sliding glass door again but something in the distance caught his eye. In the pitch black of the night, he spotted a soft glow coming from the valley beneath him, and upon stepping out into the cool temperatures outside and looking down into the valley, he saw the glow was comprised of several soft orange lights, bouncing in a line. He leaned over the railing a bit to look closer and spotted forward movement in the line of lights heading for the cabin. He crossed his arms to keep himself warm and turned back for the cabin, stepping inside and sliding the glass door behind him. “What were you looking at?” Wach sat up in the couch and looked at Noah in the darkness. Noah flipped off the porch lights submerging the house into total darkness and replied, “Loggers outside.” He turned around and looked out the door, seeing the caravan of lights barely in the distance, “Guess it’s too dark for them to keep working.” “Hm.” Wach turned over and went back to sleep. Noah left the front room and wandered down the hallway and passed a room and looked inside. The room was dark but he saw the general outline of Wonder in the bed. He wandered into the next room and walked inside and sat on the bed, Dwas sleeping lightly on the other side. Noah pulled his shoes off and then jumped into the bed and Dwas rolled over to face him. “Thanks for letting me sleep in your bed and not Wonder’s.” Dwas cleared his throat. “It got a little uncomfortable last time we had to bunk up.” “Whatever.” Noah dropped his head down onto the pillow. “Cause he’s gay and stuff.” Dwas quickly added in. “Yeah. Got it. Thanks.” Noah rolled over and faced the other direction. “Don’t make this awkward.” “Yeah, sorry.” Dwas muttered. Noah closed his eyes and dropped to sleep immediately, only to be woken up and hour or two later by the scratching of the glass door opening. |-|Chapter II=Dwas tapped Noah on the shoulder whose eyes were awake. Dwas was sitting up in the bed and he clicked the lamp on the bedside table and the room lit up with glowing orange light. There was a soft patting of feet towards the front of the cabin which was slightly louder than the massive downpour of rain and the screeching of the door closing rang out throughout the cabin again. “Wach went outside for something?” Noah shrugged it off and laid back down. “I’m just gonna go check just in case.” Dwas reached into his backpack and pulled out a small revolver about the size of his palm and slipped a bullet into the chamber. “Holy shit dude!” Noah was confused. “Shh!” Dwas covered Noah’s mouth. “It’s just in case.” He wiggled the handgun. “Well just don’t shoot Wach, ‘kay?” Noah rolled over and pulled the sheet back over himself. Dwas wandered out into the hallway and looked down to the other side of the cabin into the front room where Wach’s couch was and Wach was missing from. Dwas calmed down and lowered his revolver and turned back to the room but stopped at the sound of soft whispers. Dwas started shaking and raised the gun again. He pushed his head into the bedroom at Noah who was staring at him. He waved his hand for him to get beside him and Noah shot out of bed and unplugged the lamp on the bedside table and wielded it like a club. The two of them slowly walked down the hallway, the whispers got louder and louder and the two of them shot around the corner into the main room and kitchen and the whispers stopped, replaced by the steady downpour on the patio. Noah lowered the lamp and sighed, turning around back for the room when the whispering started again. Noah’s heart dropped and he waved Dwas over and Dwas stood beside him outside of Wonder’s bedroom. Dwas raised the pistol and Noah lightly placed his palm around the brass door handle and twisted it, slowly pushing it open. The room was dark but something didn’t seem right. Noah slid his hand into the room along the plaster wall and touched the light switch. He clicked it and the room lit up with unprecedented light as a dark figure revealed itself crouched on its arms and legs overtop Wonder’s unconscious body. It shot its head to the right and leapt off of the bed and walked towards the two in the doorframe on its arms and legs. By the time it got closer it was plainly obvious that this wasn’t a monster but a man with a solid thick coat of mud caked all over its body. Dwas raised his gun to the feral man and it stopped walking, tilted its head in a curious manner and stood on its hind legs, its body reached an expanse of almost seven feet off the ground. He balanced himself on his legs and began awkwardly walking towards the two. “Do it.” Noah muttered to Dwas and was equally terrified of the creature in front of him. Dwas did nothing but freeze and stare into the man’s milky white eyes that contrasted from its dark brown mud-soaked skin. “Fucking Do it.” Noah became impatient, and with no response from Dwas he ripped the revolver from his hand and fired the revolver point blank range into the creatures seven foot high skull. “No…” Dwas’ words shook coming out of his mouth. “I killed it, what do you want.” Noah said fearfully and unsure. Noah stiffened at the feeling of soft breath on the back out his neck from at least two living things behind him in the darkness. He turned to Dwas who he suddenly knew had felt the breathing long before the gun was fired. The two of them stood still as Dwas counted in his head at least five sources of the breathing no more than three feet behind them. They stared at their shadows that cast on the ground and the shadows of others mixed in. In one quick motion, the shadow behind them raised an object in the air and sent it hailing down on Dwas and Noah. |-|Chapter III=Wach woke up to the sound of a crackling fire and a subtle numbness that can only come from cold temperatures. There was a warm hand on his shoulder which sent a jolt a warmth through his body and he shot his eyes open. He jumped up and swung his fist at the man holding him and send him flying to the ground. He was tackled by two full grown men and held down while the man recovered and stood. “Hold him.” The man walked closer and crouched down. He was ridiculously thin and he wore a scraggly beard around his chin which was lit orange by the faint fire in the distance. Wach looked around and saw a group of five or so people staring at him and saw the solid rock walls over a cave above him, to his left, right, and beneath him. “My name.” The man rubbed his jaw from the hit. “Is Coupe.” He reached out his arm behind him and somebody from the crowd lit a torch and handed it to him. “These fine gentlemen holding you down are Night,” He pointed the torch to the man holding down his left arm, “and Tesla.” He pointed to the man holding the right. Night was tall, maybe 6’3” or 6’4”, his hair was long and in a ponytail and he wore nothing but a long pair of khakis. Tesla was average height, and was roughly 40 years old. He was missing his left arm below the elbow and held Wach’s shoulder with the nub. Both men were very skinny, their ribcages reflected the faint light and their cheeks were sunken in. “How many people did you come with?” Coupe stood back up and got a confused look from Wach. “Before you were taken, how many of you were there?” He repeated himself and clarified. It was cold in the cave but Wach muttered out, “F..F…Four.” He cleared his throat. “Four of us.” “Did they wear this?” Coupe tossed a jacket next to Wach. Wach panicked as he looked at Wonder’s jacket. “Y…Yes.” Coupe turned to the crowd behind him. “Bring ‘em out!” He called and two people dragged out Wonder and Noah. They had cuts and bruises all over their body. “And uh…” Coupe rubbed his forehead. “Bring the other guy out.” The crowd was hesitant but proceeded to bring out Dwas who was losing consciousness in two women’s arms. Blood covered his face from a dark red gash that went from one side of his forehead to the other. His body was shaking softy and he periodically spit out blood that dripped into his mouth. “Holy shit…” Wach scrambled back and broke free of Night and Tesla’s grasp towards Wonder and Noah. “What the fuck did you do to him?” Wach’s eyes were wide and tears ran down his face. “We didn’t do anything.” A shaggy haired man in crutches stepped forward with a club in his hand. “They did.” He nodded his head down the cave. He dropped the club and crutched over to Wach and put his hand out in greeting. “Loygan.” Wach didn’t accept the hand and dropped his head. “Lexi and Nail will be taking care of him, don’t worry about him.” Coupe’s tone of voice dropped cautiously. “We’ll let you know when he’s conscious again so you can go talk to him. But for now it’s best to leave him in the women’s care.” Lexi and Nail dragged him away. “Come with me.” Coupe put his hand out and helped Wach stand. The two walked over to a corner of the cave as everybody went back to normal. Coupe was a thin oriental man with a broken pair of glasses fixed on his nose. His flannel was caked in dirt and his jeans were ripped at the knees. “We’re the Wiki.” Coupe sat him down. “A group of people captured by the others over time. We’ve been down here for a while now, some of us, like Steeler over there in the corner,” he raised his hand to an old man drinking water, “have been here longer than others. You guys are the newest recruits to be brought down here.” “The majority of us,” he continued, “came here with our logging company. I, Night, Tesla, and Loygan are some of them you’ve already met. So far, the capture of our logging team remains to be the largest group to be brought in. But we’re not the only people who’ve been down in this cave.” Coupe ran his hand down the rough stone wall, his fingers bouncing in the grooves of tally marks. “The group that left these were here for almost twelve years.” He raised the torch up the wall to reveal a mass of thousands of tally marks. “Why?” Wach looked at the wall. “Why do they do this to us?” “In their language, the word Wiki,” Coupe paused his response and choked up a bit. “It means food.” The two sat there in silence for a while. “Sorry, I’m not the best at explaining the situation in a pleasant light.” Coupe stood and left the torch on the ground beside Wach and walked away, leaving him to ponder on his situation. “Did ya give him to rundown?” Loygan gnawed at a small piece of meat as he talked to Coupe. “More or less.” Coupe looked over at Wach who was still sitting next to the illuminating light of the torch. “How do you think he’ll respond when he sees tonight’s event?” Loygan set down the bone clean of meat. “If he’s lucky it’ll be him.” Coupe tossed Loygan’s bone across the cave into the pile. “Amen.” Loyg agreed. |-|Chapter IV=“Do you mind giving the new guys the run down?” Coupe said. “I’m no good at the talking part.” Loygan nodded and Coupe stood up and walked over to the two women meticulously washing Dwas’ forehead with water that pooled underneath a stalagtite. Loygan looked over at Wach one more time and then over to Wonder and Noah. He stood and walked over to Wach and helped him up and walked him over to where Wonder and Noah were sitting. “Alright, so here’s the situation.” Loygan moved the torch over that was on the ground. “In about 170 ticks people are gonna come down here.” “Ticks?” Wonder questioned. “There’s a stalactite that drips water, that’s our unit of time.” Loyg pointed to a massive pike of rock descending from the ceiling in the center of the cave. “Anyway, people are gonna come down here. Were you awake when they took you?” “Dwas and I were the only ones who were.” Noah spoke up. “Then the two of you are in for a surprise.” Loygan said to Wach and Wonder, then continued. “They’re gonna come down here and take one of us. When they do, you guys need to stay as far back into the cave as you can. They like to pick off the meatiest ones.” The three nodded with a slight tinge of fear. “Once one of us are gone, they’ll leave a deer or two down here for us to encourage us to eat. Assuming you’re unfortunate enough to not be picked, you need to take as little of the food as possible. There’s more than enough for us, but it’s for your own protection. Try and miss a few meals, and when you do eat don’t take any more than you can hold in your hand. Within a week you’ll be thin and unappealing.” Loygan released a wide grin, “Like us.” He spread his arms out wide gesturing to the twelve or so people in the cave. “Why don’t you guys ever leave?” Wach asked. “There’s a great big opening only a few hundred feet from here.” Loygan chuckled and shook his head and his grin dissipated. “Their camp is right outside.” “You’ve seen it?” Noah questioned. “No.” Loygan chuckled. “None of us.” He looked over to Steeler sitting in the corner. “But according to Steeler, before we all got here, there was an escape plan and everybody in the cave rushed outside of the camp. The light was so blinding nobody knew where to go so they were all beat down and killed. Steeler made it back into the cave though.” Loygan looked back at the group. “One guy made it. His name was Phineas and it took almost twenty people to die for just one of them to escape. The poor bastard’s probably dead by now anyway.” “So you take all of your information from an old man who probably has no idea what he’s saying?” Wonder asked. “If you want to mosey down into their camp be out guest.” Loygan spit onto the rock floor. “It’s not like we want to leave anyway.” “Why not?” Noah looked at him with a confused look. “Have any of you heard of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?” Loygan looked around at their blank stares after referencing a story he learned as an English major. “Well Plato tells this story about a person chained up in a cave facing the far wall with his back turned to the cave’s opening. He’s been there since birth and everything he sees is only presented to him as a shadow.” Loygan looks at the distant opening to the cave and continues. “Because of this, his entire reality is constructed out of shadows and he knows nothing else. Eventually, the man gets his freedom and he leaves the cave, but because he only knows the world as shadows, a world of color and light becomes too much for him. So, he returns to the cave and puts back on the chains and stares once again at that faintly illuminated wall.” Loygan leaves the three to think for a few seconds. “That is what we’ve become. Products of a world inside of a cave, destined to stare at a blank wall until we’re picked and eaten. We don’t want to leave because we’ll never adjust. Never. The mental trauma we’ll suffer for the rest of our life will be more of a hell to us than this hell we’re in right now.” “How do you know it’s not too late?” Wach looked up at Loygan after thinking about what he said. “We don’t.” Loygan paused. “We’d rather not find out.” “Fuck this!” Noah stood up and towered over Loygan pointing a finger at him. “Now I don’t give a flying fuck if you guys decide to stay in here for the rest of your life, but now I’M involved, and I’m not gonna let you fucking cavemen stand in my way of living.” Noah kicked the torch lying on the ground and sent it flying across the cave. “So I’m gonna get out of here.” Tears rolled down his face. “WE’RE getting out of here.” He pointed at Wach and Wonder. “And you and your fucking friends are going to help us, do you understand?” His tone of voice dropped and his voice started to break. He took a deep breath and yelled one more time, “Do you understand?!” A big man jumped forward and slammed his hand over Noah’s mouth and sent him flying to the ground. He held on tightly to his mouth and kept his body flat on the floor.” “Thank you Piet.” Loygan stood up and walked over to the two on the ground. Piet shot his hand forward and with a sharp finger pointed at the entrance of the cave, two dark figures stood in the doorway. Piet pulled Noah by his head and dragged him to the corner of the cave next to Steeler. “Stay down.” He whispered into his ear. Loygan waved for Wonder and Wach to go over to Piet and Noah as he stood and walked over to Coupe. He leaned in close to his ear, “If they survive tonight, I’m going to tell them.” Loygan whispered. Coupe stared stoically forward and lightly nodded. |-|Chapter V=Everybody in the cave froze as the two figures got on their hands and knees and crawled slowly through the cave. They stared each individual in the face as they walked by them and stood in the middle of the cave next to a small fire. They got back up on their hind legs and walked to the back of the cave towards Noah, Wach, Wonder, Piet, and Steeler. They reached their hand out and grabbed hold of Noah’s face, pulling him in close. Its breath was hot as it was exhaled through its nose and sent chills down Noah’s body. It let go of his face and grunted as they walked over to Piet who was standing next to Wonder and grabbed his face in the same manner as he grabbed Noah’s. It grunted and looked at the other and with one forceful blow, shot its arm out and smashed Piet’s head into the rock wall behind him. Blood rushed through Noah’s face and he yelled in fear, swinging a burnt out torch - its tip still covered in red sparks – and smashed it into the creature’s head. It shattered and orange light sprayed in a burst of sparks and knocked the creature’s head forward. It stopped its face directly in front of the rock wall and turned and stared at Noah who was shaking softly. He raised his red-hot club again and swung it towards the creature after noticing it wasn’t affected but was cut short when it was caught by his target. The creature pulled it from Noah’s arms and bulked himself up and got as tall as he could and towered over Noah. The creature exhaled and smashed the faintly glowing tip of the torch into to wall, breaking it and sending the corner of the cave into absolute darkness. Noah had never felt real fear until this moment as he closed his eyes, preparing his head for impact against the rock wall. When he opened his eyes he saw the two creatures picking up the unconscious body of Piet and carrying him out of the cave. The group sat in silence as they exited, and once they left, they continued the silence. “I’m telling them now.” Coupe’s face got red and he glared outside the cave in anger. He began forcefully walking towards the group of three in the corner. “Coupe not yet.” Loygan reached out and grabbed his shoulder but was shrugged off quickly. “Fuck.” Loygan whispered to himself. “He’s not telling him is he?” Another man stepped forward, he wore a ripped white t-shirt and jeans torn off at the knees. “Yeah, TK.” Loygan muttered. “Okay let’s go.” TK tapped Loyg on the shoulder to follow him as they headed towards Coupe and the group. Loygan picked up his crutch and hobbled after him. “What did you tell him Coupe?” TK ran over to Coupe who was standing in front of the group. “He… hasn’t said anything yet.” Wach stared at him. Coupe was frozen, staring off into the distance and silent. His glasses were crooked and he was taking quick shallow breaths. Wonder walked up to him and stared him in the eyes to no effect, then turned around to see if he was looking at something. On the rock wall seen in the glow of the fires, the dark – almost black – liquid was sprayed against it and slowly rolling down the rough surface in beads. “Fuck…” Wonder whispered, staring with Coupe at where Piet’s skull had made contact. “Did they kill him?” Noah walked close to the blood. “No.” Loygan hobbled over. “They keep them alive.” He touched a finger to the blood and held it in the light of a torch. “They remove limbs periodically and feed off of them. They don’t want the meat to spoil.” “That what happened to Tesla over there?” Wach nodded over to Tesla who was sitting with Nail and Lexi whom only had one full arm. “Yeah, they tossed him back. Guess they didn’t like him or something; he won’t tell anyone.” TK walked over to Coupe. “Coupe and Piet were close.” TK patted his back. Coupe’s stare at the wall was sharp as nails and he closed his eyes tightly then screamed, kicking a rock from the ground directly into the wall where the blood was, breaking it. The small fragments that exploded as the rock broke sprayed all over the group. Coupe collapsed to his knees and began sobbing. “Why did he come over here? It’s not like he saw the blood from way back there.” Wach spoke. “He came to tell you something and I guess we should tell you right about now.” Loygan got on one knee and comforted Coupe. “We’re escaping.” TK said. Category:Blog posts